Apple Unveils “World’s Thinnest” Macintosh Notebook.

Apple on Tuesday unveiled MacBook Air notebook, which it calls “the world’s thinnest notebook”. Despite of its thickness and portability, the mobile computer still features decent features and may even integrate solid state drive. However, being very thin, the laptop’s keyboard hardly sports any anti-spill capabilities, which is a drawback for active users. But perhaps the most important drawback of the device is the lack of replaceable battery.

“We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook – without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13” display. When you first see MacBook Air, it’s hard to believe it’s a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.

Apple MacBook Air has 13.3” LED screen with 1280x800 resolution, weighs 1.36kg (3 pounds) and is just 0.76” thin (the minimal thickness – 0.16” – described by Apple is only present on sides of the laptop and the actual thickness is 0.76”). The MacBook Air is based on Intel Core 2 Duo 1.60GHz or 1.80GHz processor with 4MB cache produced using 45nm process technology, up to 2GB of memory, 80GB hard disk drive or 64GB solid-state drive and features built-in Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 in addition to backlight keyboard, 802.11n wireless LAN adapter, integrated web-cam as well as some other capabilities.

Apple claims that the new MacBook Air can operate for five hours on battery, a respectable amount of time given the machine’s ultimately low thickness.

Apple’s MacBook Air does feature an interesting combination of specifications, though, it seems that there is a considerable compromise between them. MacBook Air is not the lightest laptop in the world, it does not feature the highest performance, feature-set or reliability, it is hardly the thinnest laptop in the world (there are Sony and Fujitsu-Siemens notebooks that have thickness below one inch). For example, spill-proof keyboard, something not present on the new Macintosh computer, is truly necessary feature for active users. Moreover, quite a lot of multimedia fans would appreciate larger than 80GB hard drive, not talking about more advanced graphics adapter. Finally, the new laptop by Apple lacks user replaceable battery, meaning that once the built-in becomes inefficient, end-users have either send their systems back to Apple for a replace, or get a new laptop.

The new Apple MacBook Air will be shipping in two weeks through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1799 for starter’s configuration.

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No LAN, no card reader, no DVD drive... and only one USB port to make up for that, and all this so that the "excess" ports don't spoil the elegance of the case. Except that I'm afraid that this would make a USB hub a must for me, and having to always carry it and have it by the notebook really isn't my idea of elegant.

Also, the battery isn't user replaceable, so one can't use a spare when it "dies" during a long flight or in a similar situation. Even worse, if one has to replace it, one must send it to Apple - a serious inconvenience for business folk.

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Thats why they call it ultra-portable. You give up on functionality in favor of portability, being size and weight. If you need all the things you mentioned from a notebook, you can get yourself a dell, and save a lot of cash at the same time.